Lawson Software today announced that J. Barbour & Sons Ltd., a UK based manufacturer and distributor of casual clothing and accessories, has signed a contract to implement Lawson Quickstep Fashion.

The Lawson solution, which runs on an IBM System i platform, will help Barbour manage its supply chain across the UK, France, Germany and the US, helping to drive business efficiency. The contract was signed during Lawson's second quarter of fiscal 2009 which ended November 30, 2008.

Barbour is a fourth-generation family-owned business that has been in operation for more than 100 years. As the company has evolved and grown, its business processes have become highly complex and now include sourcing, design, manufacturing, distribution and retailing of its products. This, combined with the growing complexity of the fashion industry - such as an increasing number of seasonal collections and more size, color and style variations, compelled Barbour to seek a single, integrated enterprise software system.

Barbour opted for Lawson QuickStep Fashion, a scalable enterprise resource planning (ERP) software package that pre-configures more than 70 percent of core fashion industry business processes. This can help reduce implementation time by up to 50 percent. Using the new system, Barbour will focus on improving productivity through enhanced supply chain planning and execution and purchasing efficiency. The Lawson system is also designed to help companies like Barbour improve performance monitoring and reporting.

In addition to Lawson QuickStep Fashion, Barbour will implement a selection of additional Lawson applications designed to help improve efficiency, such as Demand Planner, Supply Chain Planner, Warehouse Mobility and Lawson Smart Office.

"Lawson QuickStep Fashion combines industry-specific content with built-in business tools based on Lawson's experience and knowledge of the fashion industry. This made Lawson a great fit for our business," said Brenda Readman-Bell, finance and IT director, J. Barbour & Sons. "With our busiest period beginning in June, it was crucial that we found a software vendor that could deliver within a tight timeframe. Lawson is able to offer lower cost of ownership and faster implementation times with the QuickStep solution and we're already on the way to achieving this. Just days after signing the contract, Lawson delivered and began installing software and conducting training. This will help position us well for full implementation of the software system."